Snowy death traps: Close shave for mini-truck driver on slippery road near Solang Valley. Watch viral video

MANDI: A mini-truck driver narrowly escaped after he managed to jump out of his skidding vehicle in Solang Valley near Manali on the evening of December 27.

A video that went viral on social media showed the mini-truck skidding back and falling off the snow-covered road, straight into a ditch, within seconds of the driver managing to throw himself out.

It was not a one-off incident. Tens of videos of ‘dancing cars’ have gone viral on social media in recent days when Manali and Shimla were struck by heavy snowfall.

Tourists drive on snow-covered roads to higher reaches near Manali and Shimla despite advisories and warnings issued by the local administrations.

As many as 1000 tourist vehicles got stuck in the Solang Valley on Friday evening after a sudden heavy snowfall made driving on the black ice-covered road highly risky.

The police launched an overnight rescue operation and guided the tourist vehicles to safety. The operation continued till the next morning as many tourists spent the cold night shivering in their vehicles.

A week back on December 24, thousands of tourists, who went to the Atal Tunnel to experience snowfall, also got stuck and were rescued by the police.